{"id":16897,"date":"2025-09-16T10:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=16897"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:02:11","slug":"a-vhf-relay-saves-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=16897","title":{"rendered":"A VHF Relay Saves the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    A VHF Relay Saves the Day<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<section class=\"hydra-container\">\n<div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay-1024x768.jpg?resize=800%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Map of VHF relay\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/BTG825-SEA-VHF-Relay.jpg 2000w\">                <\/div><figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Shore-station antennas sometimes need a little help from VHF relays.<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Ryan Swanson\/Boating<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/section>\n<p><iframe id=\"wxuzj5efbz\" src=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.dragonforms.com\/wxuzj5efbz\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The US Coast Guard crackled over VHF\u00a0Channel 16 requesting the commercial passenger fishing vessel Victory to help with a radio relay between Coast Guard Base Los Angeles and a disabled pleasure boat, the 25-foot Fin Fun (the name has been changed to protect privacy), on the backside of Santa Catalina Island.<\/p>\n<p>The captain of the <em>Victory<\/em> agreed to serve as an intermediary in a crucial VHF conversation that would quickly switch over to Channel 22 Alpha, clearing Channel 16 for other traffic, and \u00adallowing the USCG to assess the situation and eventually arrange towing \u00adassistance for <em>Fin Fun<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>How exactly the USCG became initially aware of <em>Fin Fun<\/em>\u2019s troubles and location remains unknown. But what was certain was the inability of the USCG and <em>Fin Fun<\/em> to conduct ongoing communication directly via VHF because a mountainous \u00adlandmass stood between them. USCG shore-station antennas can boom out great distances, but not over Catalina Island, which rises to nearly 2,100 feet in elevation in\u00a0places.<\/p>\n<p>This brings us to the concept of a VHF relay\u2014in this case, the reason <em>Victory<\/em> could talk to both <em>Fin Fun<\/em> and the USCG station laid in its position a mile or two off the east end of Catalina Island. This put <em>Victory<\/em> within line of sight between both the base and <em>Fin Fun<\/em>, as depicted in the illustrated map.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On top of this, <em>Victory<\/em>\u2014being a 75-foot vessel with a relatively high wheelhouse and tall antennas of its own\u2014possesses a greater VHF range than most recreational vessels, at least enough to relay messages to and from US Coast Guard Base Los Angeles, some 32.5 miles away.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, how did the Coast Guard even have a clue that <em>Victory<\/em> was in a good position to serve as a VHF relay? The answer is \u00adAutomatic Identification System, which broadcasts and receives position data via VHF. Being a commercial passenger vessel exceeding 65 feet in length, <em>Victory<\/em> is required by federal Maritime Transportation Security Act regulations to be equipped with and operate a Class-A AIS transceiver at all times while at sea. With AIS, the USCG could clearly see that <em>Victory<\/em> was sitting in the best \u00adposition to help out.<\/p>\n<p>What seamanship lessons can we learn from this story? First, let\u2019s imagine things from <em>Fin Fun<\/em>\u2019s point of view: behind a landmass or simply out of range, and suffering mechanical trouble that calls for assistance. It\u2019s not a full-blown emergency, but there\u2019s no getting home without help. Sitting outside cell coverage, VHF calls for help on Channel 16 go unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>If this is you and you have AIS, try to identify a vessel in the general area and\/or closer to shore that might be in a position to serve as a relay. Tall commercial shipping vessels such as freighters and tankers will, as alluded to earlier, have greater VHF range and so serve as the best relays. Hail the vessel on Channel 16. If you reach them and establish a line of communication, ask if they will serve as a relay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Without an AIS, try putting out a general request over Channel 16, asking if any vessel hearing your message would be willing serve as a relay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Whether broadcasting a \u00adgeneral or targeted request, once you establish communication, you will need to find out if the responding vessel itself can effectively communicate with shore stations. If not, you will need to start over. If the responding vessel can indeed serve as a VHF relay, you\u2019re in business.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/how-to\/choose-the-right-vhf-antenna\/\">How to Choose the Right VHF Antenna<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From the relay vessel\u2019s point of view, always be monitoring \u00adChannel 16, and if a VHF request comes in about serving as a relay, be ready to respond, and stay with the communication process to its successful conclusion and\/or when the responding agency releases you. That means not only staying by the VHF radio to listen for and relay transmissions, but \u00adpotentially remaining on station as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Coast Guard or other agency will request that all parties switch to another channel, such as 22 Alpha. Once everyone is synced up, keep all communication \u00adconcise and to the point.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/how-to\/vhf-relay-saves-the-day\/\">A VHF Relay Saves the Day<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/\">Boating Mag<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    Jim Hendricks<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.com\/how-to\/vhf-relay-saves-the-day\/\">Go to boatingmag<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A VHF Relay Saves the Day Shore-station antennas sometimes need a little help from VHF relays. Ryan Swanson\/Boating The US Coast Guard crackled over VHF\u00a0Channel 16 requesting the commercial passenger fishing vessel Victory to help with a radio relay between Coast Guard Base Los Angeles and a disabled pleasure boat, the 25-foot Fin Fun (the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2168,126,175,5959,684,6185],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-16897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boating-safety","category-boatingmag","category-how-to","category-october-2025","category-seamanship","category-vhf","tag-boatingmag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}